Exposing the little gods

We have embraced the little gods and they have embraced us.

The little gods have whispered many promises to us. They have told us that they want to help us. That they will make us whole and happy! The little gods can get us almost anything we want. Because the little gods are everywhere. They are very convenient, always available, easily obtainable. They are the fast food of the soul. They help us to control the circumstances of our lives. They guide and protect us, comfort and soothe us. They even help to satisfy our fleshly desire for the respect and admiration of others. Who could blame us for embracing the little gods?!

All the things apart from God that I depend upon to gain attention, recognition, admiration, respect, acceptance or self-esteem can become my little gods:

the style of the clothes I wear,
the car I drive,
the house I buy,
the area of town in which I live,
the type of haircut that I get,
the toys that I own,
the way I play with the toys that I own,
the designer glasses I wear on my face or the colored contacts on my eyes,
the way I talk,
even the way I walk,
the places I choose to eat,
the people I hang around with,
the demonstration of my physical abilities,
the proficiency of my mental capabilities,
the quality of my verbal eloquence,
the way in which I spend my money,
the way in which I earn my money,
the way in which I invest my money,
the financial security from my money,
the charities to which I have given my money,
the funny jokes I tell,
the interesting gossip I spread,
the advantageous lies I advance,
the fascinating stories I share,
the important job I have,
the prestigious club to which I belong,
the important organization I lead,
the Spirit-filled church I go to,
the sacrifices I have made,
the things I have accomplished by the work of my own hands,
my years of dedicated service to the church,
the volunteer work I have done,
the ritzy places I shop,
the name-brand makeup I wear,
the gold jewelry that adorns me,
the furnishings in the house in which I live,
the special kind of pet I own,
the popular guy I go out with,
the pretty girl I date,
the successful husband I have married,
the prize wife I have wed,
the hobbies I participate in,
the education I have earned,
the parties I am invited to,
the people who admire me,
the people who are envious of me,
the people who want to be near me,
the reputation I have among my peers,
my boss’s opinion of me,
my pastor’s opinion of me,
my wife’s opinion of me,
anyone’s opinion of me,
and the list goes on and on…

How many little gods do you worship? 1Cor. 8:5,6)

Jesus said, “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

-Mark 12: 28-34 ( Italics mine)

He who has God and everything else”, an old Puritan saying goes, “has no more than he who has God alone.”

Copyright © 2000 by R. Thomas Brass
All rights reserved

Conditional Immortality

After nearly one year of study on the topic of “conditional immortality” including thousands of pages of material and viewing many hours of online debates, lectures, and conferences, I am convinced that conditional immortality is based on theologically systematic and hermeneutically sound exegesis of scripture. Probably, the most comprehensive publications on this topic are “The Fire That Consumes” by Edward Fudge (my favorite) and “Rethinking Hell” which is a collection of views by a compendium of authors.

Traditionally, Christianity has taught that those who die in unbelief will ultimately be raised immortal and live forever in hell to suffer mental and physical torment for eternity as punishment for their sins. Careful study reveals that this view is based almost entirely on eisegesis.

Conditional Immortality proponents believe that Scripture consistently teaches that God alone is immortal (1Tim 6:15,16) and that He will grant immortality and eternal life only to those who meet the condition of saving faith in Christ. Everyone else—the unsaved—will be resurrected, judged and then punished for a time (whatever time God determines is just) and then suffer a second, irreversible death, perishing forever and ceasing to consciously exist.

For a more extensive and comprehensively exegetical study, check out the book, “The Fire That Consumes.” It can be found on Amazon.

Here is an excellent presentation by Edward Fudge. https://edwardfudge.com/cat…/videos/the-fire-thatconsumes/

1 Corinthians 13:13

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

If you have been a Christian for a number of years, you have probably heard many sermons about faith. And you have probably heard many sermons about love. But how many sermons have you heard about hope?

Very few (like me)? If so, why do you suppose that is the case?

I believe it is because there is a great deficit within the church regarding the teaching and preaching of eschatology – the part of theology concerned with death, judgment, and the final destiny of the soul.

The final destiny of the soul is where our resurrection hope is found. When our hope is not securely connected within our hearts to our future life, we will fearfully strive to hold on to all the temporary things of this life. We will be anxious, fearful, and excessively focused on earthly disappointments.

As Christians we must ask ourselves: “To what have I yoked my hopes?”

Colossians 3:2-4

Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.

When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

If you understand this, you will see it clearly within yourself and you will see it everywhere in the world around you. And by this you will gain wisdom and be made acceptable for discipleship.

Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Mark 8:34

“You cannot reason a man out of a position he has not reasoned himself into,” to paraphrase Anglo-Irish satirist Jonathan Swift.

Worry is a choice. It is a choice that we practice, sometimes over and over again as we feel that certain circumstances in our lives are out of control. Eventually, we come to depend on the “habit” of worry as we try to manage seemingly uncontrollable situations. When this happens, our worrying becomes a form of self-reliance which replaces trusting in God.
We need to realize that when we are trusting in the habit of worry more than we are trusting God, we are no longer worshiping God; we are worshiping worry.

This is the idolatry of worry.

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. Proverbs 3:5 NIV

They will have no fear of bad news; their hearts are steadfast, trusting in the LORD. Psalm 112:7

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

The apostle Paul says, “I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation.” “I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Does this mean that in any and every situation in his life, Paul had to turn to Jesus and pray, “Oh Lord, give me the strength to do this thing, Oh Lord, give me the strength to do that thing?” Who could live their life effectively like that?

Paul wasn’t repeatedly asking for a temporary strengthening. Instead, He is revealing to us that his willpower is no longer his wrestling partner. He has found contentment through the person of Christ that has been formed within him through the process of surrender and abandonment to God’s will. Godly contentment is freedom from the burden of striving to be in control of our lives.

Paul is fully dedicated to carrying out God’s purposes no matter what they may be. As a result, he contentedly experiences daily, the strength and force of God’s will working through him.

“I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.” Phil 4:12-13

As we look around at the world today, it is evident that many people have embraced self-deception as the easier path. Sometimes people are deceived because they honestly don’t know any better. But frequently they are deceived because to be deceived is more comfortable and convenient than knowing and following the truth. This path does not end well.

“They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.” 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

Leave a reply

From: The Exponential Curve

Have you noticed how almost everything in life seems to be accelerating? Knowledge has exploded. We are traveling faster and farther than ever before.

Most people do not realize how modern our medicine really is and how radically it has affected our lives. For example, the life expectancy in the United States in 1900 was 47 years. At the end of the 20th Century it was 77 years.

Life before the 20th Century was short and brutal — often filled with suffering. If you are 35 years of age or older, you have lived longer than the vast majority of humanity. And here is an amazing fact: Two-thirds of all the people who have lived to the age of 65 are still alive today!

It is estimated that 80% of all scientists who have ever lived are alive today. Every minute they add 2,000 pages to man’s scientific knowledge, and the scientific material they produce every 24 hours would take one person five years to read.

During the 19th Century, the average number of miles traveled per year by a person in the United States was 500. Many lived and died and never got outside the county they were born in! By 1900 the average number of miles traveled per year by a person inside the United States had risen to 1,000. Today it is 25,000 miles per year, and many of us put twice that much mileage on an automobile in a year’s time.

It is estimated by experts that the number of people killed in all the wars fought from the time of Jesus until 1900 was 40 million. In the 20th Century 231 million people died in wars, making it a century of unparalleled carnage.

The Top Public School Discipline Problems:
(Source: Time Magazine, February 1, 1988)

Mid-’40s

Talking
Chewing gum
Making noise
Running in the halls
Getting out of turn in line
Wearing improper clothing
Not putting paper in wastebaskets

Mid-’80s

Drug Abuse
Alcohol Abuse
Pregnancy
Suicide
Rape
Robbery
Assault

(From CHRISTINPROPHECY.ORG)